Approved and registered asbestos removalists

Asbestos in the Home Removal Kit

At this present time there is no-where else to purchase an ‘Asbestos in the Home Removal Kit’ outside of Latrobe City. (See below for background information and contents of the kit) Residents of Latrobe City, or owners of property within Latrobe City, can purchase the kit for $50 at the Latrobe City Council main office in Morwell.

Background Information on the Asbestos in the Home Removal Kit

Back in early 2004 the Asbestos Council of Victoria/GARDS and Gippsland Trades and Labour Council (GTLC) identified a need for education, safe removal and safe storage of domestic asbestos in Gippsland.
ACV/GARDS and GTLC met on a number of occasions to talk through some of the issues. We then went out seeking others to join our quest to gather support and work together on these ideas.

In mid-2004 we met with an organisation that we thought was willing to work with us on creating the asbestos storage facility and making it happen, but unfortunately that was not to be the case. It soon became apparent that this organisation wanted to have total control and go it alone with our idea. As the company’s proposal was not a high quality facility the surrounding community had no confidence in it, and as a result the company’s proposal was never realized.

A public meeting was called on July 8th 2005 where EPA, that Asbestos Removal Company, GTLC, ACV/GARDS and some concerned community discussed some of the pros and cons about where a facility should be located and what that facility might look like. It was also discussed that the community must have confidence that it would be the very best it could be, so that domestic asbestos could be safely deposited and held there, and would not represent a danger to the community in any way.

Following on from that meeting ACV/GARDS and GTLC found another partner that they thought they might be able to work with, and discussions started to take place with this environmental services firm over a facility and what it might look like – always keeping in mind the concerns of the community for a safe facility they could have confidence in.

ACV/GARDS and GTLC then took those talks to EPA Victoria where discussions and presentations from GTLC, ACV/GARDS and the Environmental Services firm started taking place on what a storage facility could look like, and some of the infrastructure that would have to be put in place with it. One of those infrastructure items was a kit for the removal of asbestos in the home. After some consecutive meetings took place between our organizations, other representatives from other organizations were asked to join us, and in November 2005 the Latrobe Domestic Asbestos Waste Management Committee was formed.
Gradually one by one representatives from Latrobe City Council, Dept of Human Services, Victorian Workcover Authority, and Victorian Waste Management Association added their collective expertise to the committee.

EPA has chaired these meetings and provided the secretarial support. ACV/GARDS has provided their premises and provided afternoon tea for this group since Nov 2005.

Some group members have met in excess of 40 times or more to discuss and gather information for the committee.

The earlier meetings that GTLC, ACV/GARDS and the environmental services firm had with EPA has now seen one of the infrastructure ideas emerge as the ‘Asbestos in the Home Removal Kit’, launched on the 22nd of March 2007.